Could You Be a Farmer?
Could you be a farmer?
And leave the city, all secure,
Venture where it all depends
On God — and not on you?
But your hard work,
You’d never shirk,
If you were not to starve.
With breaking backs
Or robot machines,
You’d till the soil
By any means
To strain out, or
If the soil was rich —
Abundant food
That modern souls
Have not a clue —
The labor that
Our ancestors knew.
With sweating brows
And muscles that ached
From dawn to dusk,
For survival’s sake.
But surely there were
Good times, too.
The love of God,
The love of friends.
Quiet evenings,
As winter descends.
I’ve only read of farms in books,
The tales of homesteads,
Of babbling brooks —
Of Little Houses on the Prairie,
Of wild animals to be wary,
Of building cabins with bare hands,
Of bravely living off the land.
It’s a dream that might never be —
Still, younger folk can start, bravely.
Alas, old me, not strong enough —
Those people were made of sterner stuff.
I’ll keep on dreaming, and till my little plot.
Little dreams, too, can mean a lot.
clarakatalin 
Selfless Love
Jesus, Mary and Joseph are amazing examples of selfless love Even in the midst of great joy, grief, pain, or challenges, they thought of the welfare of others.
Mary, upon learning that she would conceive Jesus the Messiah, the son of God, went off to help her cousin Elizabeth, who was also with child, though further along in her pregnancy. At the wedding in Cana, Mary thought of the distress of a married couple running out of wine. Mary also stood at the cross of Jesus when many had deserted Him.
We never hear Joseph, Mary’s husband, speak a word in the Bible. But his actions speak loudly. Like his namesake in the Old Testament, he was a dreamer, and as far as we know, he always obeyed God’s leading, which often came through dreams. No matter the embarrassment (of Mary’s pregnancy), or inconvenience (having to travel long distances or pull up roots), he obeyed God and fulfilled his role as protector of Mary and Jesus.
Jesus, when he heard of his cousin John the Baptist’s beheading, went off to grieve privately, but when the crowds discovered His location, he had compassion on them and healed their diseases. Later that day, he multiplied loaves and fishes to feed the crowd. How often in our grief do we want to just curl up in a ball and pull the covers over our head?
While Jesus suffered excruciating pain on the cross, he still thought of us. He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
When we have a vision of how God wants us to cooperate in His plan, we, too, can be selfless, through His grace!
Category:
Commentary
Tagged with: